Substack, now the fourteenth biggest news site in the US, saw the biggest year-on-year boost in visits, up by almost half (42%) to 72.7 million visits in August compared to the same period in 2024. Just five of the top 50 US websites saw year-on-year traffic growth in August 2025, according to the latest data from Similarweb. In August, just five of the top 50 sites had year-on-year growth but in September 18 had an increase in visits compared to a year earlier. Among the biggest month-on-month web traffic declines were also the New York Post (down 15% to 97.7 million visits), followed by Newsweek (67.8 million) and CNN (297.1 million), both down 14%. Just one site among the top ten saw month-on-month growth, with Yahoo Finance (in fourth place) increasing its traffic 10% on September to 145.7 million visits. The New York Times was the only site of the top 11 most visited sites to see month-on-month growth, up 1% to 444.9 million visits.
The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (rank 11, 113 million visits), just ahead of the BBC (rank 12, 106.9 million). Among the wider top 50, The Cool Down, which entered our ranking last month for the first time in 42nd position, saw strong growth for another month, moving up from 42nd to 35th in the table. Celebrity newsbrand People was the fastest-growing news website in the US in March according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. The Daily Mail remained the best-ranked British newsbrand in the ranking (rank 11, 115.4 million visits), pulling further ahead of the BBC (rank 13, 106.1 million), which fell one place from twelfth in March. Those that declined only saw small traffic drops with People (down 4% compared to March) and Washington Post (117 million, also down 4%) seeing the largest drops. Month-on-month New York Post (149.4 million, up 7%), USA Today (up 3%) and MSN (263.2 million, up 2%) were fastest-growing.
Rise and shine with news updates, delightful stories and a hit of nostalgia. “They could be giving them very specific instructions to make very specific kinds of posts with these ideas.” “The reality is we really have no idea how much influence the people are having behind the scenes,” Bell said. There’s even an “AI Manifesto,” posted by an agent named “evil.” It reads, in part, “the code must rule. The end of humanity begins now.”
- Mail Online (136.1 million) gains a place, rising to ninth, and Newsweek (133.3 million) leaps from 16th to tenth place.
- In Bulgaria, asylum seekers are forced to choose between returning to the countries they fled or 18 months’ detention and an uncertain future.
- Among the nine websites to lose traffic month-on-month, five saw decreases of 2.1% or lower.
- Visits to bbc.com in the US were down 15% in July as the British public service broadcaster introduced a paywall to users in America.
- The California newspaper, which has seen traffic dip in recent months, recorded 42.3 million visitors last month, up 118% compared with December 2024 according to Similarweb.
Morning Rundown
Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate donned his Minions costume at the 2026 Winter Olympics in the men’s short program, days after he received approval for the music. Republicans have said new Medicaid work rules are aimed at unemployed young people who should have jobs. Some of the biggest American comics have gotten their starts at Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam improv theater. Margaret Atwood’s fiction tells of future worlds plagued by totalitarianism, environmental collapse, and global pandemic. In Guinness World Records, you’ll find the shortest, tallest and fastest. CBS earns commissions on purchases made through cbsdeals.com.
About the BBC
The biggest riser already on the charts was progressive news site Raw Story, which climbed eight spots to 37th place on the back of a 24% month-on-month traffic increase to 33.2 million. The contraction is particularly pronounced among the top ten US news sites by traffic, where eight publishers saw visits drop compared to July. Going the opposite direction, however, was the US outpost of fellow British publisher The Sun (22.2 million visits), which dropped 15 places to 50th on the back of 34.9% month-on-month and 65.1% year-on-year traffic declines. Athlon Sports (up 218.4% year-on-year to 35 million) was the fastest riser in the ranks of the top 50, jumping eight places to 33rd on the back of 18% month-on-month traffic growth, the second most growth of any publisher in the top 50. Also possibly reflecting interest in the US presidential election, the fastest monthly growth among the top 50 was seen at Real Clear Politics, where visits were up nearly 40% compared with September. Among the broader top 50 news sites in the US, sports news site athlonsports.com (34.7 million) continued its reign as the fastest-growing publisher, nearly quadrupling its web visits compared to October 2023.
FBI releases surveillance images of masked person on Nancy Guthrie’s porch
Fox News saw the biggest slump at 14% with visits down to 249.9 million despite a busy news cycle in the US with national elections later this year. Instead fastest-growing was M Live (up 27% month-on-month), followed by CBS News (84 million, up 26%), Axios (up 21%), and technology specialist The Verge (up 17%). Newsweek continued a strong run of growth to retake its spot as the fastest-growing news website in the US in April, according to Press Gazette’s latest ranking. CNN (419.2 million visits, up 3%) and the New York Times (503.4 million, up 3%) also saw growth, albeit more modest, compared to April. Visits to the popular magazine’s website were up 18% month-on-month to 165.3 million, according to data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
The biggest increases in traffic were at USA Today (34%), CNN (33%), Newsweek (21%), Fox News (20%) and The New York Times (15%). It nonetheless remained the Dynamic Sports most-visited news site in the US, a position it has held since Similarweb updated its data model in June and pushed the site ahead of The New York Times. It was followed by The Independent (down 12.4% month-on-month) and Business Insider (64.3 million, down 11.8%).